This blog is an exploration of principled problem solving which is an initiative at Guilford College encouraging a focus of people's abilities and experiences toward solving real-world problems under the guidance of the college’s core values of community, diversity, equality, excellence, integrity, justice and stewardship.

Core Values

12/19/2013

As someone interested in studying abroad in Ghana, I got very excited when I heard that Emma Lovejoy was giving a presentation on her experience studying abroad in Ghana last spring. My mother grew up overseas and two of the countries she lived in were Uganda and Somalia, and so I have always wanted to travel to Africa, specifically East Africa. However I know that out of the more than 365 countries the Guilford Study abroad office offers programs in, Ghana was a more viable choice. This is because not only is it an amazing program, but it is a faculty lead program, which means that the cost is that of a normal semester at Guilford plus airfare. And you get to travel with other Guilford students, but stay in homestays where you really become immersed in the culture. Considering all of this, I was already very interested in studying abroad in Ghana. So I went into the presentation hoping to learn enough that my questions would be answered and I would decide to study in Ghana next spring.

Emma presented in King 127, the Multicultural Resource Center (MRC) on Tuesday September 10th at 7pm. She had a presentation and a table full of beautiful cloth and beads and other cultural pieces. In attendance was her aunt and uncle, the faculty advisor, Bob Williams, Daniel Diaz from the Study Abroad Office, and Jorge Zeballos, Director for Diversity training and development in the MRC. In attendance as well were two exchange students from University Cape Coast in Ghana, and of course Guilford college students interested in studying abroad in Ghana in the future.

This presentation was a perfect example of Guilford’s core values Community. Emma brought many communities together for her presentation, for example: the community of students interested in studying abroad, the students already committed to studying abroad in Ghana this spring, the MRC community, the Study Abroad community, the community of Cape Coast exchange students, and others. Not only did she have people who have direct connections to Ghana attend her event, but other community members who are interested in Ghana attended without having a personal connection to Emma or the MRC. And then there were the people who had very personal connections like the two exchange students, who were then able to help us build a community of people in the room who cared about this trip. They were able to inform us about aspects of the country that even Emma was unsure about, because they had lived in Ghana their entire lives, whereas Emma spent around 4 months there. I saw fliers all over campus about her presentation, and got multiple emails and saw her entry in the daily buzz. For a campus where it is quite difficult to get students to care and make efforts to attend events, the community turnout was awesome.

Through her presentation I learned much about the community she formed in Ghana as well. She lived with a host family who became like a second family to her while she was there. She made friends at her University, and in the village she lived in. From what I understand, her trip to Ghana changed her life, and she is planning to return to visit her Ghanaian family this January! That alone certainly shows the deep level of community Emma built while studying abroad, and how she was able to translate this to her community at Guilford.

12/13/2013

I sat in on an open Student Senate meeting on Monday, 10/1/13, which featured several topics of discussion. This was my experience.

Guilford has 7 core valuyes, one of which is Community. Guilford’s core value of community emphasizes a student-orientated space for learning. It also represents an accepting space for people to feel safe and voice their concerns, comments, and questions. Guilford emphasizes community so that people will feel comfortable and even obligated to get involved with clubs, sports, teams, student government, or even just put fourth extra effort in classes. This relates quite directly with the Student Senate for several reasons. One, student government is a form of community, as it gets students involved in their education. Two, it allows even those students not involved in Senate to voice concerns or even just get informed. And of course student government involves direct student-staff interaction and exchanges that allow students to help direct their education. Lastly, student government can help alleviate any sense of alienation a student might feel toward the faculty and staff.

The Student Senate was structured as a debate centered space. There were multiple topics under discussion that evening, and each one started with people (students and staff) involved in that particular issue giving an overview of information. Then a debate was opened and people gave ideas about how to handle the issue. I arrived a few minutes late, so I can’t speak for an introduction ceremony, but at the end of the senate meeting there was a closing session that seemed ceremonial, but didn’t add anything new to the meeting. The structure of the meeting was very democratic and communal, as everyone was offered a chance to express their opinions and ideas on each topic after the expert speaker laid out the current situation and problems. The professor who coordinated the meeting acted more as a moderator and a scheduler, someone to keep speeches within a reasonable time limit. He did not try to direct the debates, however, and he was able to keep the meeting running smoothly for the sake of the people there. The debates themselves were very student centric, which relates directly to the value of community, as the Senate was a direct example of a community event.

If A.P.S.A. cuts funding from departments, then some classes like the one shown may be canceled.

The main topic under discussion at the Student Senate meeting was the Administrative and Program Services Assessment Report (A.P.S.A.), a report on the student- faculty debate over budgeting for next year. A.P.S.A. has been a very controversial topic among the active student body for this year, and many people who went to the senate meeting fully expected the topic to come up. Several students at the Senate meeting had a lot of prior knowledge and experience of and with A.P.S.A., and they lead the debate. Most of the people there had very little information about A.P.S.A., and the debate was largely a question and answer session for the first couple of minutes. While I knew little about the topic before I went to the meeting, I learned a lot in the Senate Meeting. Several students who weren’t members of Senate voiced their concerns and by the end of the meeting everyone present had learned when they could continue debating and learn more about A.P.S.A. In total, the meeting was very informative, and at all times calm and respectful.

I would like to conclude by saying that the Student Senate meeting I attended was very informative in its own right. It was also a clear representation of Guilford’s core value of Community, as it was a student-faculty shared space were both groups could have a conversation about relevant issues. It was also a safe place for people to voice questions comments and concerns without fear of hostility, and where people would treat one and other with respect.

12/03/2013

Diversity can create knowledge and understanding that is larger and goes deeper than what would be achieved without it. For example a person who comes from an urban area can better understand what goes on in a city than a person who lives in a rural area. While at the same time the person who lives in the country probably knows much more about things like agriculture. If these two people never interact then their worldviews will most likely be fairly narrow. However, if both the person from the city and the country come together, they have a better chance at viewing the world through a larger lens. This is advantageous because it can create an understanding that helps build a more unified community within the human race.

An, experience I have had at Guilford College relateed to diversity was something called a Cultural Competency Exercise done through the Bonner Center. I was told that I had to communicate with someone from another country who could not speak English. There were certain goals I had to accomplish such as figuring out where this man was from, telling him the name of my family members, and finding out what his favorite past time was. This exercise quickly showed me how difficult it was because not only could this man not speak English, but he also did not understand many of the cultural aspects I have as a white American. I learned that in order to communicate with him, I had to do some things that are universally understood. To help in this I drew pictures, acted out what I was trying to say, and even tried to understand some of his language. It was interesting that at first the exercise was rather awkward because this man did not understand anything I was trying to say. But as soon as I was finally able to make a connection with him about his name and on playing soccer he started being more responsive to the point where not only did I get my goals accomplished but he was helping me learn how to count in the language he speaks in Ghana.

I believe this exercise taught me a lot about diversity because I realized that no matter how different I may look or talk from someone else, there are certain things we all share. Sometimes all it takes is finding that one area where a connection happens with another person and then understanding has begun to build. Once I made that connection with my partner in the exercise I was able to get a better grasp of who he was and why. Not only did I understand better but also I was able to find out things about his culture that I preferred to mine such as how they treat the elderly in Ghana.

Sometimes I hear people talk about how we all just need to agree with each other and move on with our lives. However, this thought process is too simplistic. I find that on some issues I do not always think the same way within myself and the person I am now may disagree in certain areas with the person I will be five years from now. If this disagreement can happen so easily within each person then the idea that everyone can all just agree on everything with people who are extremely different than them just won’t happen. But this is okay! As long as basic things like human rights and needs such as nourishment that everyone has are met, then it’s good to be diverse and good to be different because it actually makes the world a better place. Diversity helps everyone to see the world with a wider lens and have a much fuller understanding of how things work.

Many atrocities committed today and throughout history have come across from either as a failure to understand someone different or a misrepresentation of who they really are. I believe that if humanity would embrace the idea of diversity and accept that people are different, our world would advance much faster. I learned a great deal about respect and communication from my partner in the exercise and those are things I can apply to my life today. If it is allowed to grow, I believe diversity can be one of our best teachers.

11/25/2013

One of Guilford’s core values is community; in this blog I will recap a community’s loss and how the value of community is stressed in a time where a community is needed to come together in order to carry on.

My partner attends New Garden Friends School. New Garden is a Quaker high school a few miles down the road from Guilford that shares the same core values as Guilford including a profound value of community. February 19th, 2013, was a day members of the New Garden Friends School community will never forget. It happened suddenly, and was completely unexpected, but the passing of a beloved friend and classmate, Joshua Level, left New Garden feeling lost and hopeless. Josh was only a part of the New Garden community for a short amount of time, but his presence made an impact on the students and teachers like he had been there his whole life, so it is no surprise that his passing came as a shock to the school. The community mourned the loss for many weeks; remembering him and holding him in the light, even till this day.

Inside the school you will find murals of Josh made by various students during the time of mourning, pictures of him playing basketball, and his tree, located right outside of the school’s gym, Josh’s favorite place. This tree was planted in honor of Josh and his impact on the community. High Point Friends School, another Quaker High School, recognizing New Garden’s need for support, donated the tree in Josh’s honor, extending a communal hand of hope and understanding.

This year would have been Josh’s senior year, and the New Garden community selected a few of his fellow seniors to organize New Garden’s annual “International Peace Day” event in his honor. There, Joseph Level, a respected speaker, preacher, radio DJ and Josh’s father spoke on what peace meant to him and his family in their time of loss.

Mr. Level thanked the New Garden community for their continued support of his family during their time of need, but shared that he and his family had found peace. “I found a type of peace within myself that can only be understood if you have it, and if you have this peace, Friends, you can share it with the world,” said Joseph Level. Mr. Level stressed the point that peace cannot be achieved by anyone, if they do not have peace within themselves. Only someone at peace can spread peace. In order to find this peace, Mr. Level said he had to search within himself to find the reasons why he would be unhappy, unkind, and unfaithful to his family and God, and not harp on them because they were not reasons worth harping on. After doing this he found his peace. To conclude, Joseph Level challenged the audience to find peace within them, so New Garden, as a community, could go into the world and truly spread peace.

In my opinion without the strongly knit community New Garden Friends School has created and upheld, they would not have been able to move forward from Joshua Level’s passing. I have had to deal with many deaths in my family and a few deaths of my friends. I have been through more deaths than most have toexperience by my age. It was always important and helpful for me to reach out to my family, friends, coaches, and teachers to help lift my spirits. Community may create peace of mind and internal peace as it did at New Garden when dealing with troublesome times.

11/21/2013

Here at Guilford College we have a farmer’s market that takes place every Wednesday. Wednesdays, by tradition, have been called our “community days” and it is understood that people do not have class past 12 pm. The market is set up right outside Founders Hall and usually the stands are there until 5 pm. I had the opportunity to attend my first farmer’s market this past Wednesday and see all that it had to offer Guilford students. There were many small stands with fresh fruit and vegetables. I learned that Greensboro community members grew all the produce at the market locally. Also, there was a peculiar side of the market where a younger lady was making and selling jewelry; I thought that was pretty neat. While scanning the rest of the market, my attention was instantly caught by the woman selling local honey. I love tea and drink it every day with honey. So, I decided to purchase some that was called “Seasons Delight”. Plus, she taught me that honey is a natural immune system booster, and is a healthy alternative to use in cosmetics, and cooking.

After buying my honey from L & B Apiaries, I realized that this farmer’s market event exemplifies our first core value here at Guilford: Community. We value our small but strong community on campus very much. Students here show their support to our greater Greensboro community by purchasing and using local products.

This thought then led to a conclusion in my head…small, quaint farmer’s markets like this will be our economy’s saving grace. I say this because it will, in the end, be the rock during the recession. To better and grow our national economy/community, we must support our smaller ones first. Every Wednesday I am going to make sure I stop by our community farmer’s market outside and support our local community. I appreciate the willingness to teach students moreabout the outside world, while students can help by just being aware.

Finally, this small, overlooked farmer’s market even is the biggest impact to the bigger picture of life. Building a strong, stable, and prosperous community is a value that should be recognized everywhere.

11/08/2013

(Above) Myléne Dressler, Visiting
Professor of English, emphasizes a point during her teaching presentation, a
mock creative writing workshop, on Thursday, Oct. 3. The presentation is part
of the interview process for a tenured teaching position.

The Importance of Community

Professional
ballet dancer. Published novelist. World traveler. Enthusiastic, animated,
intellectual and creative Visiting Professor of English at Guilford College.

This
short list introduces, albeit briefly, 50 year-old Myléne Dressler, with whom I
had the pleasure of making the acquaintance over lunch in October. I,
along with the seven other English majors in attendance, had been granted the
unique honor and responsibility of informally interviewing Myléne for a permanent,
tenured teaching position with the college. (We will also be interviewing the
other potential candidate next week).

During
this lunch, I asked Myléne to describe one of the most important lessons that
Guilford had taught her in her time at the school. Almost without
hesitation, she began talking about one of Guilford’s seven core values:
community. She said that she was “struck by Guilford’s students within [her]
first twenty-four hours of arriving on campus”, and that the unique blend
of creative individuals here created an atmosphere to which she was instantly
attracted.

The
value of community at Guilford is not only attractive to outsiders, but also
essential to the school as a whole. Indeed, without that value, I would never have
sat down to lunch with Myléne in the first place. That I (and the other
students) get to meet with her and the other candidtate, and that, as another English
Professor, Jeff Jeske, said in an email, “…[our] voices will have great weight in the [hiring] decision”, indicates
how seriously Guilford takes its core value of community.

This
emphasis on community is, to me, critical to the maintenance and character of
the school as a whole. Without community, you cannot truly realize or benefit
from the other core values. Community gives us a sense of place, comforts us,
makes us more creative, and, as Myléne said in response to my question, finding
a place with a real community is like “… finding the answer to a question and
realizing you knew it [subconsciously] all along.” It is my firm belief that,
with community at its core, Guilford will continue to thrive.

(Above) The Community banner,
respresenting one of Guilford's seven core values, is seen here in front of
Founder's Hall.

09/17/2013

My
name is Jasmine O’Neill and I am the Office of Multicultural Affairs’ summer
intern and assistant at the University of North Carolina Greensboro. One day I assisted
with the presentation on the OMA to the SOAR (Spartan Orientation, Advising and
Registration) Orientation Leaders of UNCG. My site supervisor, Jeffrey Coleman
presented OMA’s goals and intentions and answered the questions of the
orientation leaders. Jeffrey and I divided them into groups and instructed
them to present the scenario in a creative/artistic form of their choice
choosing from three different scenarios. Group 1 went first and they had to
describe the prompt given, which was “Identify five characteristics that
describe Black, Asian, Latino, and Caucasian people using either positive or
negative stereotypes to an alien that has just landed on Earth who wants to
know more about the Diversity on our planet.”
Interestingly, Diversity was a topic and core value that I've always felt strongly about which was often discussed and
practiced during my experience with the Center of Principled Problem Solving at
Guilford College.

One
of the members of Group 1 is acting as the Tour guide for the alien who is
Caucasian. The guy explains to the alien the different types of people as they
are “touring” Earth. First a White girl walks by and the tour guide guy says,
“You see we have a White girl”. Then the girls says as she walks by, “Hey I’m
White, I live in a gated community, I have straight hair, live in a big house,
and have a nice car, BMW”. Then the girl that’s playing the alien role says,
“So that’s a White girl? Okay.” Then two of the members from Group 1 start to
walk by as an Asian couple. The tour guide person says, “These are the Asians,
they are smart, have no life, probably want some rice, and don’t speak any
good English.” The next member of Group 1 walks by representing Latino people. The
tour guide says, “Here is a Latino girl, she probably works as a house keeper,
lives in a small house, and has big family.” The last of the Group 1 members
represented African-Americans. One of
the Black male and female orientation leaders yelled “Ayye turn up (slang for
get excited)!” as they walked in. When he walked by the tour guide says to the alien,
“We call these the ratchet ones, they have probably been in jail, have swag, and
are involved in a gang. See the attitudes? They are probably very loud in the
movie theatres etc.” As Group 1 wraps up their presentation, the girl that
plays the alien goes back to regular character and says, “As you can see these
were negative representations and stereotypes of different racial groups, now
let’s take a look at how they really are.” The previous White girl walked by
and said, “Hey yes, I am White but I am middle class, I don’t drive a very
expensive car, and I live in a normal size house.” The previous “Latino” girl
said, “Me llamo Brandy, I do have a big family and I have a big house to go
with it, and I own my own Salsa dancing restaurant!” Then the “Asian” people
said, “Yes we are smart, we do have lives, and we know three different
languages including well spoken English.” Lastly, the African-American male and
female orientation leaders of Group 1 explained how they do like to have fun,
but they are not loud everywhere they go, they don’t talk in movie theatres,
are not belligerent, and have their PhD’s.

At
the end of their presentation Jeffrey and I asked them why they chose to act it
out that way and how did they feel while coming up with their ideas and
presentation. They told us that they used the negative stereotypes first and
ended with the good stereotypes to show that people should judge others by
what’s on the inside not outside. They also said that at first it made some of
them feel offended but racism and judging others by how they look is such an
important issue to address when going to college especially so we just had fun
making up the skit and getting our message out creatively. I thought that Group
1 had a very creative presentation and I love how they got over being
uncomfortable with one another to address a very sensitive and important issue about
Diversity that takes place every day. It was very impressive and memorable. The
message most of all is what stuck with me; don’t judge a book by its cover; all
of our differences make us unique and admire each other more.

Group
2 went next and their scenario was “Are there any barriers to groups at your
school and how they affect how people view one another?” This group chose to
act out the difference between the predominately White Fraternities/Sororities
and the predominately Black Fraternities/Sororities at UNCG. First one of the
African-American male orientation leaders walked up and asked the predominately
White Greek life group what do they do as a fraternity and told them that he is
very interested in pursuing Philanthropy. The Fraternity told him that they do
community service, Philanthropy, and social justice work (clearly fitting in to
what he is looking for and would be interested in). Next he sees a
predominately Black fraternity and asks them also what they do and tells him
what he is interested in. The fraternity says to him, “You obviously fit in
with them but you should join our fraternity and ‘TURN UP, TURN UP (slang for
get excited)!’” Next he sees a multicultural Greek life group and asks them
what they do and tells them what he is interested in the predominately White
fraternity because they have everything he’s interested in but also he doesn’t want
to miss out on the experience of being in a predominately Black fraternity too
with people he already knows. They respond by saying, “If you feel like you
belong there and it’s your passion then do that, don’t just join somewhere just
to fit in with people, plus we are a multicultural fraternity so if you want to
come here everyone fits in and you’re welcome too!” So after thinking hard and
accepting other’s advice, he decided to go with the predominately White
fraternity and branch out for a change.

I
think this was a great issue to address as well because sometimes when it comes
to taking advantage of meeting new people and getting involved others are
afraid to branch out, network, and meet people that look, dress, and talk differently
from them just to fit. The message of this scenario helped me learn that it is
good to break barriers especially if it means following what you’re passionate
about. Jeffrey Coleman and I asked all of the groups to explain their
motivation to act out these scenarios the way they did and how did they feel
after presenting their scenario? They said that when it comes to disproving
negative stereotypes of others around campus it is a necessity because people
should not assume some one is this or that just because of how they look which
happens to them as individuals around campus every day. They told us that after
acting out the scenario they can look at each other differently and more
comfortably talking about diversity and negative stereotypes which is hard for
most people. This taught me that Diversity is such as strong relative to
Equality when it comes to not only how you treat people but how you see them as
well. Judging others just because of what you see and hear on the outside has
no explanation or hand written manual on how they think, feel, and operate on
the inside. I learned that by accepting others as different individuals it
allows you network, work with others, and communicate with all types of
people at a more professional and versatile level without personal restrictions.
You can’t get anywhere with only associating yourself with people who do
everything like you, who look just like you, and sound just like you. What I
took away from this activity was that it’s about meeting and accepting people
that are Different from you that expands our knowledge base and networking
capabilities.

(Moral Monday in Raliegh: My experiences on this internship has inspired me to actually be involved in making change, have confidence to network and build new relationships, and meet and help people that are like me and most of all different from me)

07/26/2013

Government seems
so popular nowadays, especially when you think of the number of young adults
who voted during the last presidential election and of all the new programing on
TV, like HBO’s “Veep”, and NBC’s “Parks & Recs”. Government has been turned nto a hot
new topic of entertainment. However, I found that after interning at the
City of Greensboro’s Planning and Community Development (PCD) Department
under the Better Buildings for Greensboro (BBG) program last summer the
complexity of the work involved was less amusing and a bit more terrifying.
Yet, the presence of Guilford College’s core values in the people I
worked with made my time there feel much more comfortable, and even excited!
These people, despite their demanding and stressful jobs, embodied the
values of Stewardship, Diversity, Community, Equality, Integrity, Justice, and
Excellence in all the work I saw.

The purpose of
the BBG program is simple enough: offer residential, multifamily, and
commercial properties options of initial investment needed to make a home
or business more comfortable and energy efficient by a minimum of 15 percent,
thus allowing them in the future to save money on energy bills and at the same
time improve the environment and community in which they live. This is done by offering a grant or incentive and rebate package to those who apply and
qualify. However, the terrifying part of this story is the insane amount of
separate entities and the colossal number of steps involved in the process.

Believe me, this
isn’t for those who aren’t willing to go through the rigors of accountability.
Integrity is required to ensure the deadlines are met, the questions are
answered, the work gets done, and the program runs smoothly. Also, a
sense of Community must be had, since this opportunity is offered to a variety
of residents who need energy efficiency upgrades to their property or properties,
simultaneously covering wide areas of the County. Finally, you must be
comfortable with Diversity and Equality, not only because the BBG program is
bound by the City’s Equal Opportunity Employment Clause and its
employees are from diverse backgrounds, but because the people it serves are
also representative of different ages, races, socioeconomic levels, and
genders that live in Greensboro.

Stewardship is
the most repeated value I found. Without it, the complexity would
cause this program to fail. For example, the BBG program exists thanks to
a grant given by the Department of Energy (DOE) to the City of Greensboro by
way of the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA). Now, if you
know a little about receiving funds from federal agencies and a little about
the ARRA, you know that there are a lot of strings attached. You can also bet
that there is plenty of reporting involved and that there is high
accountability for the disbursement of those funds, especially when the sum
received is five million dollars. In order to satisfy the demands of the Department of Energy,
the City Manager, the PCD’s Director and the public of Greensboro, the BBG ‘s
strategic plan demanded Excellence.

In conclusion, I
feel my summer internship experience was like a blockbuster movie. I
learned about governmental accounting, business management, business law,
sustainability, and so many more ‪topics ‪that will, without a doubt, help me in my education.
I’m grateful for the opportunity to work next to such an inspiring team
at the Better Buildings for Greensboro.‬

BBG Album

Core BBG team (Valencia Roner, Greg Liggs, Charla Gaskins, and Caitlin Warren from left to right) on a conference call with TrackVia Software Company.

Picture of HEROs (Home Response Energy Officers) conducting a physical count at one of the City's warehouses of the materials supplied in energy packs to homeowners (lightbulbs, thermostats, etc.). HERO Coordinator Greg Liggs at the top of the stairs and HERO Neal Wallace along with a A&T-CERT intern in front of the inventory.

05/31/2013

I would like, if I may, to present a hypothetical situation to you. Say your house is broken into one night. Your belongings are stolen, your home violated and your safety compromised. You may not know how to react, you may feel scared and alone.

Consider that you know who broke into your house, your neighbor who lives three doors down. You took it to the neighborhood watch and showed your case, yet the neighborhood watch dismissed you. You then take the case to the police and when the neighborhood watch catches wind of your intent, you are told that you are "intimidating" your burgular and that you risk being evicted from your neighborhood. This, essentially, is what happened to a rape victim at UNC-Chapel Hill, Landen Gambill.

Jezebel posted an article explaining that last month, Landen and 64 other unnamed sexual assault victims are alleging that the assistant dean of students was pressured into underreporting sexual assault cases and violating the rights of the victims. In Landen's case especially, she is being punished by the Office of Student Conduct for "intimidating" her rapist by subverting the university's internal system of handling cases and taking her case to the press.

In our class we discuss community in everything that we do. In instances like this, the health of a community is at stake. How can we ensure that a safe space is being created for all members of our community? And conversely, how can we make sure that our community members who have been hurt seek the justice they deserve? If one is not being served through the internal protocol that is provided by our community members, do we have the right to air our dirty laundry in public?

I think that in order to ensure the health of this community, there needs to be a focus on healing who has been hurt. When one of our community members is hurt, we all hurt. It is not a singular pain. It ripples, creating chain reactions, spreading hurt further and further. There needs to be a environment that is conducive to making every member feel safe, not only to speak out but to dispute a claim. Once we feel safe opening a dialogue, we can then move into fixing what has been hurt in the greater community. The issue has been polarized now; you are either on one side or the other. But before we decide to stand with one side or the other, we need to analyze this situation more deeply and look at its effects on the greater community. By healing the relationship between community members, the community can begin to be healed as well.

05/06/2013

On March 9, 2013, I attended the Let’s
Learn NC Summit in Salem College in Winston-Salem, NC.Let’s Learn NC is a
campaign to get equal in-state tuition for undocumented NC resident students.I
attended because it was a part of my job description for my Internship at
American Friends Service Committee to work on the Let’s Learn NC campaign. I also went because if I was going to work on such a meaningful
campaign I wanted to learn more about it. I heard about it through Jorge Zeballos, the
Multicultural Education Department's Latino Coordinator. I attended with Jorge and four other Guilford students.

In-state
tuition is necessary because undocumented students can’t go to college or
universities unless they pay out-of-state tuition, even if they meet all
other requirements for in-state. Out-of-state tuition is four times more than the
price of in-state tuition making it unaffordable to undocumented students.

The organization of Winston-Salem,
El Cambio, organized the meeting. At this summit I learned that the campaign
Let’s Learn NC was started by the Adelante Education Coalition. The
first year they presented an in-state tuition bill was in 2003 and the
second time was in 2005. Now in 2013 it is the third time they are making this
effort. El Pueblo and Student Action with Farmworkers (SAF) are other organizations
that came before Adelante Education Coalition and have also worked on education and
immigration rights.

Since we ask
if there are organizations that are for the cause, we must also ask if there are organizations that
are against the cause? We learned about NC Fire that is anti-equal tuition and NC Listen that is anti-immigrant. This conference, Let’s Learn NC
Summit, was held to come up with a strategic plan in order to obtain the
support of the council members of cities and counties.

The Let’s LearnNC Campaign is divided
into three teams; lobbying, communication, and organization. At the summit they
began by separating us in two groups, one was communication and the other was
organizing. I participated in the organizing group. In this group we had to
name different work places, universities, and religions that have great
influence in the community. They planned to ask these organizations for their support and to use their support to try to change the minds of
other organizations and people so that they would support the cause.

When our two groups came back together we began to answer the question, How can we convince NC which is a rural state that equality in education is
necessary? “Avoiding the politics,” many said. Others suggested, “we could
use the youthful movement, economic and religious aspects, and being united
behind the American dream.” With this we began to create a power map to analyze the
positions on education of members of the Winston-Salem City Council. We did
this for various members of other counties as well. Then we joined all of them
in the power map.

This is only the beginning of this
campaign. All the students and organizations that were present in the summit made
a goal for their schools and their counties to obtain the support of many. Here in
Guilford County we are seeking support for the petition, but we are also doing videos
of the people who support, saying why they support Let's Learn NC.

Why do I support
or believe you should support? I support Let's Learn NC because education
should not be a privilege, it should be a duty. I support because we all should
have an opportunity to have a higher education in order to look ahead. Why
should you support? Because EDUCATION is necessary in this life and is not
something to distribute among only some of the people. This is still a fight to get equality
- something Guilford College believes in and everyone should start to believe in.
Support in-state tuition equality for undocumented NC state residents by
signing the online petition at letslearnnc.org, by making a video with AFSC
which is shown on the website and youtube.com/NCAdelante!